FAYETTEVILLE, Ark., Dec. 21, 2010 - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that it has awarded an additional $100,000 grant to Northwest Arkansas-based SFC Fluidics® to support continued refinement and commercialization of the company’s ePump® technology. This grant builds upon previous NSF awards totaling $600,000 that the company has received from the NSF to support ePump® development.
SFC Fluidics’ ePump® is an innovative, truly pulse-free pumping system that enables researchers and instrumentation manufacturers to move very small volumes of fluid (nanoliters to microliters) with a high degree of precision and accuracy. The system has a small footprint (less than one square inch), can run on battery power, has no moving parts, and can pump against significant back pressure. Its innovative design is completely scalable and the ePump® can be made in virtually any shape or size.
ePump’s patented and patent-pending technology works by applying a low electrical voltage or current, which drives a pumping fluid across a selective membrane. This, in turn, causes an elastic diaphragm to expand and deliver a controlled amount of fluid to a microfluidic application. Since the diaphragm is impermeable, the possibility of cross contamination of fluids is eliminated. ePump’s easy-to-use controller allows the user to set the flow rate and specify the dispensing volume. It is particularly well suited to applications in such diverse areas as medical research and diagnostics (lab-on-a-chip), portable laboratory instrumentation, environmental analysis, aerospace, and military.
SFC Fluidics is a privately held company located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Founded in 2003, the company is rapidly becoming known in the emerging market for microfluidic devices.